Well...I say mild.
It is built on the grain bill and meets most of the specifications of
one...but my choice of using a brett means it will be a mild in the
original sense of the term. And as it ages, it should transform into an
old ale, as things should.
This recipe was born by my need to use and build up a healthy culture
of of Brett C (wyeast) so that I would be able to pitch dregs from the
carboy and bottles.
Because
I planned on direct pitching, and wanted it to ferment fairly quickly, I
decided on a session ale; I also wanted to get a couple of low ABV
beers into my pipeline, since I normally tend to brew on the bigger end.
So we have an English style session ale, with about 13% crystal malts,
and 8% rolled oats to keep that body up (brett doesn't produce glycerol
like sacc does, so doesn't contribute to the body of your beer). In
order to keep things from drying out too much, I also decided to mash
high, at 157*--100% brett ferments don't get the same crazy attenuation
as using brett in secondary.
